Run, Don't Walk
by Liz Hollow
Summary: "But Lucas and I are perfect together. We are just perfect." But Barry begs to differ. Dawn/Lucas and Dawn/Barry.


**Run, Don't Walk**

I laughed, taking my hand off of Barry's shoulder and brushing his cheek lightly with my fingers. It was hard not to notice that his face leaned into my hand, so I dropped it with a smile. "You're going too fast! I can barely keep up with you! It's right that you need to be leading, but you need to be leading with the pace of the music."

His face turned red, but I couldn't tell if he was embarrassed or if it was a blush. Either way, it just made me smile even more, and he scowled. "Oh, be quiet, Dawn. Stop laughing at me!" This made me laugh louder. "I never even wanted to sign up for this stupid dance class. When am I ever going to use this?"

I put my hand back on his shoulder, and he took my other hand in his. The music started again, and we were off, gliding across the floor with a grace I had never seen from Barry. He said he hated the class, but I could see that it was starting to pay off. The way he moved on the floor, too quick for me or otherwise, was starting to look beautiful.

"You never know, Barry," I replied, the smile stuck on my face. "Dancing could prove useful someday in the future. You do know you have to dance at your wedding? Now you'll be one step ahead of your wife! Isn't that nice?" I winked at him, and he turned red again, looking down at our feet as we twirled on the floor and stepping on my foot in the process. "Ouch! You're getting clumsy. You still need to slow down!"

"Mind if I cut in?"

We both stopped; Barry stared at the boy beside me with narrowed eyes, but I let go of Barry and tackled the boy, so happy to see him. I hugged him tightly, and he laughed, that same laugh that I had used just moments ago at Barry.

"Lucas! I'm so glad that you came!" I glanced over at Barry, with a smaller smile on my face this time. "Oh, Barry, you don't mind, do you? Lucas came all this way over for the class, and I don't want him to just sit here. Do you think it would be all right if he just borrowed me for one minute? Then, we can finish up!"

Barry shrugged, sitting down on the bench with a sigh, and I looked back at Lucas, nodding. I put my hand on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around my waist. Then, as soon as I placed my hand in his, we started dancing, waltzing around the room in sync with the music. I cried out in joy, laughing at how wonderful it was.

"Lucas, you're perfect!" I said, and he grinned at me. Barry scowled from his spot on the bench, loud enough for the two of us to hear, but I ignored it. Lucas was just a good dancer, was all. And maybe he did interrupt Barry and me, but… it didn't matter. This felt so right. Lucas was literally sweeping me off my feet.

And after that, it just seemed to work out that way.

* * *

"You're going too slow!" I laughed at Barry, elbowing him in the side. He feigned pain, clutching his side with a face twisted in pain. I just smiled, poking him in the cheek this time. "No, really, Barry, you're going too slow. We're never going to finish these decorations in time for the parade if you don't speed up the process a little. Are you trying to go slowly just to make me do all the work? Huh? Because that would be really unfair!"

He grinned, dropping his paintbrush and shoving his paint-covered hands into his pockets. "Well, if that's what you want, I can definitely stop. I mean, you're doing such a great job as it is, so—Ow! What was that for?"

I had whacked him in the head with the end of my paintbrush, getting some blue paint in his blonde hair. Laughing, I got him this time on the nose, and he opened his mouth like he was going to yell at me. But I knew what was coming next. I could see it in his eyes; before he could even reach for the bottle of paint, I jumped up.

"No!" I screamed as he squirted the paint towards me, and I hurried out of range. But now, having hid behind the trash can, I could see when he was coming or—_splat!_

The paint trickled down my cheeks like little waterfalls, dripping off my hair and plopping to the ground. I stood up, looking at Barry with blurred yellow vision—the paint now on my eyelashes—and he grinned, holding the now-empty bottle. I shook my head, a deadly expression on my face, and he dropped the bottle, backing away.

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, that's right! You better run away!" I scooped up a bottle of pink paint from the floor and squirted it at him before he could even dodge it. The paint now glistened in his hair and on his face, along with all down his already-paint-covered clothing. I grinned, proud of myself, and he wiped the paint off his face.

Then, coming over to me, he wiped his hand on my face, smearing the pink in with the yellow. I stood there for a moment, staring at his pink and blue face. What else could I do other than stare? I was out of ammo.

"You're a jerk," was all I could say.

To which he replied, "I know," and I laughed again.

The door creaked, and we looked over as Lucas walked in, taking his turn to stare at us. "What did you guys do to each other? I thought you were working on decorations for the parade? It's in less than a week, you know."

"Want a kiss?" I asked him as I scurried over, and he gave me a jokingly disgusted look. I winked at him, pecking him on the cheek, a bit of yellow rubbing off on him. Lucas laughed, wiping it off with the back of his hand, and I shook my head. "Sorry. We were getting work done, but Barry was going too slow. I had to motivate him."

"Motivate me?" Barry scowled. This was becoming a common occurrence whenever Lucas was in the room, but I didn't ever comment on it. "Please. I was going at a perfectly acceptable pace. It just wasn't as obsessively fast as yours."

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I can help you finish, if you want?" Lucas volunteered, and I smiled at him, reaching to hold his hand. Even though mine was all covered in paint, he didn't pull away from me. He looked at Barry, a friendly smile on his face. "You don't have to stay. I can finish for you."

Barry crossed his arms, glancing over at me. "No, I'll stay."

"It's all right, Barry." I crossed my arms now, staring at him with a hard expression. He clearly wasn't liking it, and his gaze narrowed. "We've got this. You were going to let me do it all by myself anyway, so… why don't you just go home and rest?" I sighed. "I want you to help me tomorrow! We need to finish adding the flowers and stuff."

He looked very reluctant to go. But he nodded, heading out the same door that Lucas came in, sure to come back tomorrow to help me, sure to put in more of an effort then. Sure to run instead of walk because it was me.

But Lucas and I were perfect together. We were just perfect.

* * *

"Why did you even like him?" he asked me in my backyard. I didn't exactly know how to respond to his question. Why did I like him? What sort of question was that? Why did anyone like anyone? Wasn't it just something that happened? I couldn't explain it, and honestly, I didn't think I needed to. He was just making this harder.

"Barry…"

"I mean, I don't have anything against the guy. He seemed pretty cool, and he was nice to you until today. But…" He paused, looking at me with eyes that I wanted to avoid. Because what they were telling me were words I didn't want to hear. I didn't want to change my mind. "You never should have been with him to begin with."

"Why are you telling me that?" I didn't even need to ask that. I already knew the answer, and he knew that, too. So, I just waved a hand at him, shaking my head as a tear rolled down my cheek. "Please don't say anymore, Barry. I don't want you to say something that you'll regret because I know you're going to. I just… I need a little while."

He froze, looking taken aback. But he quickly recovered, reaching out for my hand. "You didn't answer my question. Why do you like him? Why did you choose him?" he asked again, and I pulled my hand away, avoiding his gaze now. Why couldn't he just leave this alone? Why couldn't he just leave _me_ alone?

But he wouldn't leave me alone until I answered his question. So, I had to. I supposed I did owe him that, at least. He was the one who had been with me since the very beginning. Since the moment I met him, he had never left my side. Yet I had been a horrible friend to him while I was dating Lucas, and so I owed him.

"It was easy. It was _so easy_ loving him, Barry. I mean, we just seemed so perfect together, and it was almost magical. He was so nice, and he did things for me. We were both picked by Professor Rowan as Dex Holders. We just seemed so alike." I smiled, wiping a tear away from my eye. "It was just really easy, Barry."

Barry just sighed, and we sat down on the ground together. He didn't touch me, and he left a reasonable amount of space between us. I pulled my knees to my chest, setting my head on top of them. He didn't move or say anything for a moment, but the silence was beautiful. I had never appreciate it so much.

Then, he spoke. And it was even more beautiful.

"Love isn't the easy parts, you know. It's the hard parts, the frustrating parts, the parts that make you want to scream and fight back. But it's also the parts that seem so _right_ that nothing else matters to you. Don't you feel that with me, Dawn? Don't you feel right with me?" He sighed when I didn't say anything, but I was just trying to process what he said. "Lucas may have seemed perfect. But love never is."

"Barry…"

"I'm not saying that love is supposed to be so difficult that you can't handle it, though," he added, holding up a finger like he was a know-it-all. "You just need that balance. And we've been through so many ups and downs together, and we can laugh and cry together, too. We've made it through, Dawn."

"Barry…"

He jumped up from the ground, grinning at me as he held a hand out. I raised an eyebrow, putting my hand in his despite being scared of what he would do. But as he pulled me to my feet, he kept hold of one of my hands and snaked the other around my waist. And before I could even process what was going on, we were swaying.

"What are you—"

He just smiled at me. "Come on."

Then, picking up the pace, we waltzed around my backyard. I put my hand on his shoulder, staring at his orange-tinged eyes. I didn't want to change my mind about him, but he was making me. He was making me want to be with him. Because maybe he was right. Maybe being with Lucas was so easy because it wasn't meant to be. And maybe Barry made my life so crazy all the time because I wanted to be with him.

So, I let him lead me around in his fast-paced waltz. We were going too fast, too fast, and I was becoming dizzy. But we kept spinning around my backyard, and I didn't plan on stopping. Not yet, anyway.

The two of us danced until we literally dropped, collapsing to the ground with uneven breathing, laughing in spite of ourselves. This craziness—it wasn't easy, for sure. It was nothing like dancing with Lucas. And it didn't need to be because this was Barry.

"I told you that you'd need those dance classes, Barry!" I said in between breaths. He looked over at me, a smile on his face. "But I still think you're going too fast."

"Oh yeah?" he whispered back at me, and I nodded.

"Yeah." I didn't take my eyes off of his, and he never took his off of mine. "But don't start walking just yet, okay? Keep on running."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm so loving Barry/Dawn right now. Can I please just tell you how much I love them? And there is, like, NO fanfiction for them. (That's a lie. There is some. But not a lot, so it's barely an exaggeration by saying there's none.)

So, anywho, because I love them so much, I wrote another fanfic! With a little bit of fortuneshipping in there, too, just because I'm super nice to those fans, too. And would this be considered scarfshipping? Yes? Well, I'll just label it as Twinleafshipping because that's the main pairing. Kawaii!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.


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